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The American baritone, Devon Morin Russo, obtained his Bachelor of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education from the University of Rhode Island (2008-2013); and his Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music (2013-2015). This fall Devon he will begin reading for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at Boston University. He attended master-classes with Jayne West, Kendra Colton, William Hite, Pamela Dellal. He was a Semifinalist for The American Prize in Voice Friedrich & Virginia Schorr Memorial Award (Art Song and Oratorio) in 2016 and in 2012 was the runner up for the NATS Artist Awards Competition.
Celebrated for his “brilliant” and “booming” baritone, Devon Russo performs frequently as a soloist and ensemble member in Opera, Contemporary Music, and Early Music throughout the United States. Onstage, he has performed the roles of Sam in Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, Oloferne in La Giuditta, Papageno in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflӧte, Arbas in Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione and the title roles in Gianni Schicchi, Signor Deluso, Le Carnaval Mascarade and Dido and Aeneas. With a particular love for George Frideric Handel’s operas and oratorios, he has sung Tirenio in Il Pastor Fido, Manoah in Samson, Farasmane in Radamisto and Argante in Rinaldo. He has performed with the Boston Lyric Opera, Odyssey Opera, Opera in Williamsburg, Opera Providence, and Salt Marsh Opera.
In concert, Devon Russo has sung the baritone solos in Carmina Burana, Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Five Mystical Songs, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Maurice Duruflé's Requiem, Cherubini’s Messa Solenne in Do Maggiore, Haydn’s Paukenmesse and Cacilienmesse, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) and Markus-Passion (BWV 247) as Jesus, the title role in Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah and the bass solo in G.F. Handel's Messiah. He has performed with Quicksilver Baroque, Star Island Chamber Music Festival, Blacksburg Master’s Chorale, Masterworks Chorale, Harvard pro Musica, Nashua Choral Society, Cantata Singers in Boston, and Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
Devon Russo has taken part in the Boston Early Music Festival Young Artist Program (2017), the Manhattan Opera Studio Summer Festival, the Amherst Early Music Festival Opera Project and Winter Workshop, the Baroque Opera Workshop at Queen’s College and Connecticut Lyric Opera's Young Artist Program (2017-2019). This summer Devon will take part in the first year of the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival and School (2018). He has been a vocal apprentice at the Nahant Music Festival and a Choral Scholar with the Oratorio Society of New York, the Berkshire Choral Festival, and Trinity Church (Newport, Rhode Island). He currently performs both as a soloist and an ensemble member with the Schola Cantorum at St. Stephen’s (Providence, Rhode Island), the Gregorian Concert Choir at the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, and with Collegium Ancora the ensemble-in-residence at Grace Church Providence.
Devon Russo has performed in many world class venues including Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, the Boston Opera House, St. John the Divine (New York City), Marsh Chapel (Boston), the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at Tanglewood.
A passionate educator, Devon Russo is currently a part of the voice faculty at Providence College, the Community College of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School and was a member of the voice faculty at South Shore Conservatory for many years. Many of his students move on to study in conservatories and universities while performing and placing with major state and national choirs and competitions. |
